"WAH YOU FOLLOWED ME!" Ruby screams, jumping away as she notices a man slide up behind her. He had tried to alert her to his presence, but the loud rock music blaring from her headphones left her deaf to the outside world. As a sniper, her hearing probably wasn't AMAZING, so she must like it loud; sure, aura could heal eardrums, but repeated high-caliber shots firing constantly would mean a lot of repeated overtime damage to hearing.
"Sorry. Your sister conscripted me to buy her soda, and then Blake and Weiss asked. Thought I might as well join you."
"Then why did you sneak up on me!?" Ruby cries, not appreciating her heart attack. The man merely taps the side of his head, pointing out that she was still wearing her headphones, even though her music was off. "Oh…" she says, sliding them down to her neck.
"You like it loud."
Ruby turns away, slightly. "Yeah… Walks like this are the only time I'm really alone usually, so I like to kinda… turn in?"
"Tune out." Ruby nods, declaring that as what she meant. "I get that. I already miss having an apartment to myself. Even with Blake, we had a door between us; it sucks to be back in dorms."
"Kinda. Even back home, Yang was there, so I never get to be alone-alone." Ruby's stiffness starts to fade as she talks, her comfort with the man being near increasing. "So walking, it's nice and quiet! Or… maybe not quiet, but me-time!"
"Err, sorry for coming along then, if you wanted to be alone."
Ruby shakes her arms wildly, shutting down the line of thinking. "Oh, nonononono! It's fine, it's fine! Just… sometimes it's nice to get away from my team." Her hands snap to her mouth as she realizes what she just said. "I mean… no, I mean… uh…" She struggles to find words, but the man lets her sort it out. "I'm with them every day all day mostly, so… I'm sure you can guess I'm kinda… not good with people…"
Well… Ruby's not wrong; even a person looking at this one conversation could gather that her person-to-person skills were poor. Still, that's not exactly nice to say. The man reconciles, "I wouldn't say that. You'd have to be good to be a team leader; maybe talking to strangers, but there's nothing wrong with being introverted."
"Yang always says I should go out more and meet more people. I don't think she gets just how…" Ruby again can't find the right word.
"Draining?"
"Yeah…" Ruby sighs, somewhat satisfied. "You know how… friendly she is. She's always a center of attention, and not just because…" Ruby looks down at her thigh highs and trails off. "Yeah…"
The man avoids looking at Ruby's thighs because she'd probably freak out. He feels no need to interject, so there are a few minutes of just quiet footsteps as they near the corner store. The man and Ruby pass under street lights, enjoying the occasional hum of electricity or a gentle breeze. He can see why Ruby favors the activity; night walks were calming, giving plenty of time to decompress and slow things down.
Walking next to Ruby puts the heart at ease, her bubbly presence a comfort. The man notices that, for once, she isn't awkwardly quiet; there's a very clear difference between a quiet shared between friends and awkward silence where a person like Ruby would be debating whether to try to force a conversation. He's seen Ruby when Yang tried pairing her off with someone, and she spent most of the time tapping her fingers. This means that she was comfortable, that he wasn't super draining to be around. He kinda already figured this, but it's still a nice thing to know.
Though now it was established that Ruby CAN be comfortably quiet around the man, she initiates a new conversation. Though, it clearly wasn't a forced attempt to fish for a topic, but rather, "Do… Do you really think these thigh highs make me look cute?" Ruby looks at him with a nervous smile. "Yang didn't tell you to say that or anything?"
"Of course Yang didn't say anything! You look very nice wearing those!" Rather than hide away, Ruby widens her smile; her mix of cute, perky, and shyness is absolutely precious to behold. "Yang just wants to help you be more confident. Err, all of your team, really."
Ruby's smile tragically fades. "I know… It's just… I feel like I have a lot to live up to; I'm two years younger than everyone, so I'm two years behind in school, two years behind as a leader, and two years behind in…" She pauses once more as she looks down at her thigh highs again. Ruby really did have a lot of hang-ups about her body; two years younger meant two years underdeveloped compared to everybody. Even Weiss, who was short with a modest chest, was filled out properly like an adult with adult proportions. Ruby's clothing choice and oftentimes childish personality make her feel… kind of dumpy. Her poofy blouses and oversized skirts muddled her figure, not helping. Add in a busty, extroverted, flirty blonde sister, and Ruby fell to the wayside.
"You may be two years behind, but don't forget, you are still one of the only people to kill an Ursa Major."
"I didn't though!" Ruby says, reminding that she didn't get the finishing blow on either of the Ursa Majors back during the leadership training. She almost soloed one but forgot to finish it. "I thought I took one out and it slammed me into you!"
"Well, you did almost take one down by yourself. And then you did land a good hit that let us get the other one. Either way, that's pretty awesome for someone so-called two years behind. Most haven't even SEEN an advanced level Grimm."
Ruby blows out a breath. "I guess you're right…"
"Plus, that was day one. You're a semester better, so you wouldn't make the same mistakes. You're too hard on yourself. Sure you're a bit younger, but you've caught up and surpassed most of us. You almost beat me AND Weiss, too, and she'd even admitted you're great at strategizing."
"Ohstopitthat'stoomuch…" Ruby mutters, pushing her index fingers together.
"And yes, you look good in thigh highs. Yang, Blake, and Weiss agree, and I'm sure everyone else does; your sister didn't tell me to say that." As Ruby parses the compliment, the man adds, "I say this as someone dating Weiss: you're very pretty." He feels the need to wink at someone but suppress the urge. "You should be more confident in yourself. "
There's a decent silence as the man and Ruby walk through the night. After a while, Ruby takes a breath, raises her head high, and says, "Thank you. I get all that a lot from Yang, but uhh… you know? Not as meaningful from your big sister. She says I'm the Bee Knees every other day." Ruby starts confidently marching forward, playfully kicking her legs up in a strut. She's careful not to kick her skirt up too much, though no one would be around to see anything.
In short order, both the man and Ruby reach the corner store. It looked like every other gas station convenience store open 24 hours, meaning it was slightly off-putting, carried several cracks in the glass windows, and reeked of mediocrity and stale slow-roasting hot dogs. Were it not so close to campus and far away from normal residential areas, it'd be a bad place for an 18-year-old girl to come on solo night walks.
Ruby leads the man to the back of the store, which carries a wall of refrigerated beers, wines, energy drinks, and soda at rightfully cheap prices. Remembering the list, the man grabs Yang a bright red bottle of liquid sugar, Blake a tall can of tea, and Weiss a glass bottle of coffee. Ruby procures a bottle of Ol' King Cola, prompting htim to decide to grab one. As he checks out, Ruby queues up behind with several candy bars, smiling wide.
With your spoils in tow, the man and Ruby start heading back to Beacon. Ruby twists open her soda and takes a long, satisfied sip. "Buhhh!" she exclaims, taking in the air she neglected. "So worth the walk."
"How often you do this?"
"Oh… about every other day or so. Sometimes I walk a lot further and go to a different store, but I today I did some training earlier today. I get a soda or one of those icy slurpy thingies, and then I get to walk home with it!" Ruby takes another long draught of her soda.
As the walk stretches on, the man and Ruby discuss her exercise habits and soda. She admits she probably drinks too much, and that she switches preference depending on the day. On Monday, she may buy People Like Grapes, or Friday may be Dr. Piper. Whatever it was, it fills the time before they both get back to RWBY's dorm. The man passes out the drinks and says goodbye after making some plans. Ignoring the bruises from Yang, it was a pretty good night.